Norfolk, destruction of
The repulse at the
Great Bridge, Dec. 9, 1775, greatly exasperated
Lord Dunmore (q. v.), who had remained in safety at
Norfolk, while his motley forces were greatly dispirited.
The Virginians were elated, and five days after the battle they entered
Norfolk in triumph, where they were joined by a North Carolina regiment under
Col. Robert Howe.
Dunmore had abandoned his intrenchments at
Norfolk, after spiking his twenty pieces of cannon, and invited the loyalists of the city to take refuge with him on the fleet, for he had determined to destroy the town.
The poor negroes whom he had coaxed into his service were left without protection, and many of them starved to death.
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Parties sent on shore to procure provisions were cut off, and famine menaced the fleet, for the multitude of mouths to be filled increased.
The vessels were also annoyed by firing from the shore.
A British frigate arriving at that juncture emboldened
Dunmore, and he sent a flag to
Colonel Howe with a threat to burn the town if the firing did not cease and provisions were not sent to the fleet.
A flat refusal was given.
On the morning of Dec. 31
Dunmore gave notice that he should cannonade the town, so that women and children and loyalists might leave it. The cannonade was opened at 4 A. M. the next day, and marines and sailors were sent on shore to set fire to the city.
The wind was blowing from the water, and the buildings being chiefly of wood, a greater portion of the most compact part of the town was laid in ashes.
The conflagration raged about fifty hours, and hundreds of wretched people were left shelterless in the cold winter air. During the conflagration the cannonade was kept up, and parties of musketeers attacked shivering and starving groups of defenseless inhabitants.
Strange to say, during the three days of horror not one of the patriot troops was killed, and only three or four women and children were slain in the streets.
General Stevens, of the
Virginia militia, remained on the spot until February, and, after
all the families were removed, he burned the rest of the town, that it might not afford shelter for the enemy.
Thus a flourishing city was temporarily wiped out. Almost the only building that escaped the perils of that day of terror in
Norfolk was the ancient St. Paul's Church, cruciform in shape and built of imported bricks.
On the street front of the church, near the southwest corner, was left a large cavity made by a cannon-ball hurled from one of the ships during the attack.
In Civil War days.
What is known as the
Norfolk navy-yard is at
Gosport, on the bank of a deep and sluggish stream flowing out of the
Great Dismal Swamp, and opposite the city of
Norfolk.
At the beginning of the
Civil War this station was one of the oldest and most extensive belonging to the government, and covered an area three-fourths of a mile in length and one-fourth of a mile in width.
In the river the largest vessels of war might float, and everything for building and finishing such vessels was seen there in greatest perfection.
The quantities of arms and munitions laid up were enormous.
There were at least 2,000 pieces of heavy cannon fit for service, 300 of which were new Dahlgren guns.
It was estimated that the aggregate value of the property there was between $9,000,000 and $10,000,000. Besides this, several war-vessels were afloat there.
The
Buchanan administration, to avoid irritating the
Virginia politicians, had left all of this public property to exposure or destruction.
Even the new administration of
President Lincoln was for a time very circumspect.
When directing (April 4, 1861)
Commodore McCauley to “put the shipping and public property in condition to be moved and placed beyond danger should it become necessary,” he was warned to “take no steps that would give needless alarm.”
Meanwhile, the
Virginia Confederates had proposed to seize or destroy all this property.
As early as the night of April 16, two light boats of 80 tons each were sunk in the channel of the
Elizabeth River, below
Norfolk, to prevent the government vessels leaving the stream.
The government, alarmed, sent
Capt. Hiram Paulding from
Washington with instructions for
McCauley to lose no time in “arming the
Merrimac, and in getting the
Plymouth and
Dolphin beyond danger; to have the
Germantown in condition to be towed out, and to put the more valuable property, ordnance and stores, on shipboard, so that they could at any mo-
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Burning of the Navy-yard in 1861. |
ment be moved beyond danger.”
He was also instructed to defend the property under his charge “at any hazard, repelling by force, if necessary, any and all attempts to seize it, whether by mob violence, organized effort, or any assumed authority.”
Paulding caused the frigate
Cumberland to be placed, with a full crew and armament on board, so as to command the entire navy-yard and then returned to
Washington.
McCauley, apparently unsuspicious of treachery around him, neglected to carry out the instructions sent him until it was too late.
His Southern-born officers deceived him by protestations of loyalty.
“You have no
Pensacola officers here,” they said to
McCauley.
“We will never desert you; we will stand by you until the last, even unto death.”
On the day after the passage of the
Virginia ordinance of secession, they deserted their flag and joined the
Confederates.
On the evening of April 18,
General Taliaferro, commander of the forces in southeastern
Virginia, appeared at
Norfolk with his staff, and prepared to seize the navy-yard and the ships-of-war.
The disloyal officers had corrupted the workmen in the navyyard, and these were also ready to join the
Confederates.
The military companies of
Norfolk and
Portsmouth were paraded under arms.
Several companies of riflemen came from
Petersburg, in number about 600, and a corps came from
Richmond, bringing with them fourteen pieces of heavy rifled cannon, and plenty of ammunition.
With these troops
Taliaferro felt certain of success.
McCauley was now equally certain that he could not withstand so large a force, and to quiet the people of
Norfolk, who were greatly excited by a rumor that the guns of the vessels were to be opened on the town, he sent word that he should make no movement except in self-defence.
On the return of his flag from
Norfolk,
McCauley gave orders for scuttling all the vessels to prevent their falling into the hands of the
Confederates.
This was done
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at 4 P. M. the
Cumberland only was spared.
Word had reached
Washington of the remissness of
McCauley, and
Paulding was despatched in the
Pawnee with 100 marines to relieve the commodore.
At
Fort Monroe he took on board 350 Massachusetts volunteers just arrived, but when he reached
Norfolk the scuttling of the vessels was completed.
They might all have been saved.
Paulding saw the fatal error.
He saw that more than scuttling must be performed to render the ships useless to the
Confederates.
He also perceived that with his small land force he could not defend the navy-yard; so, using the discretionary power given him, he proceeded to burn the slowly sinking ships, and to commit to the flames all the buildings and other inflammable property in the navy-yard.
He sent 100 men under
Lieut. J. H. Russell with sledge-hammers to knock off the trunnions of the cannon.
The
Dahlgren guns resisted the hammers, but those of a large number of the oldpattern guns were destroyed.
Many were spiked, but so indifferently that they were soon repaired by the
Confederates.
All the men were taken on board the
Pawnee and
Cumberland, excepting those who were to commit the work of destruction.
Before dawn on the morning of April 21 the conflagration was started, but the destruction was not made complete.
The vessels, with the men, immediately withdrew, when the
Confederates took possession and saved all the buildings, provisions, and stores in the yard, except the immense ship-houses, the barracks, and rigging, sail, and ordnance lofts.
A vast number of the cannon were uninjured, and played a conspicuous part in the war on the side of the
Confederates.
The money value of the property destroyed was estimated at $7,000,000. Two of the sunken vessels, the
Merrimac and
Plymouth, which were not consumed, were afterwards raised by the
Confederates and converted into powerful iron-clad vessels of war.
Norfolk, and
Portsmouth opposite, and old Fort Norfolk, on the river-bank below, were taken possession of by the
Confederates.
The possession of these places and of
Harper's Ferry were important acquisitions for the
Confederates, preliminary to an attempt to seize
Washington.
While stationed at
Fort Monroe, in 1862,
General Wool saw the eminent advantage of the
James River as a highway for supplies for
McClellan's army moving up the
Peninsula, and urged the government to allow him to capture
Norfolk, and so secure the free navigation of that stream.
After the evacuation of
Yorktown,
President Lincoln and
Secretary Stanton visited
Fort Monroe and granted
Wool's request.
Having made personal reconnoissance, he crossed
Hampton Roads with a few regiments, landed in the rear of a Confederate force on the
Norfolk side of the
Elizabeth River, and moved towards the city.
General Huger, of
South Carolina, was in command there.
He had already perceived his peril, with
Burnside in his rear and
McClellan on his flank, and immediately retreated, turning over
Norfolk to the care of
Mayor Lamb.
Norfolk was surrendered May 10, and
General Viele was appointed military governor.
The Confederates fled towards
Richmond, first setting fire to a slow match attached to the
Merrimac and other vessels at the navy-yard, which blew the monster ram into fragments.
The Confederate gunboats on the
James River fled to
Richmond, closely pursued by a National flotilla under
Commodore Rodgers, which was checked by strong fortifications at
Drewry's Bluff, below
Richmond.
